In this Wild Wednesday Webcast, we welcome Nicholas Famoso, Paleontology Program Manager for the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, to take us on a journey through the geologic and natural history of the John Day River basin.
The geology of the John Day basin is complex and records a rich history of changing environments, including deep oceans, subtropical rainforests, temperate forests, and sagebrush steppes. Volcanic and tectonic activity in the region not only built the land that we see today but also helped us to know the age of the rocks from which the land was built.
The John Day River and its tributaries, both current and ancestral, have helped to expose many of these rocks and to even deposit some of them, allowing us to learn and explore these stories. The John Day River basin is critical to our understanding of the region's past, which is preserved through a variety of public and private land.
